What the....is the deal with Folex?

[ruff]

I've been noticing lately new clients that used 'Folex' and have lighten the color of their carpet.
Most noticeable on light colored carpets. The color change is pretty much permanent even with some heavy duty boosted, pre spray, scrubbing and dwell time.

Looked at the MSDS and it does not list the ingredients.

Anybody knows what's causing it?

 

[Zee]

First of all I always tell them to discard the bottle because they never work.

Next I try to explain -if they care- that there are so many variations to what could happen. The fabric has Chemicals (the color itself, if we are not talking about a solution dyed fabric) the accident will bring more Chemicals (either food or drink dyes- natural or synthetic) or stomach contents which are also more Chemicals.

Now you have multiple chemical reactions going on and on top of that you have the folex/resolve/etc sitting on the fabric for a long period without being rinsed out. It has a very good chance to "bleach" out colors.

It happens sometimes when we rinse/flush the fabric, we have these spots popping out of nowhere looking like bleached out spots. Its all because they had done spot cleaning and the left over chemistry perhaps weakened the dyes and now its being washed away. I always try to find out before cleaning: was there spot cleaning done and was the fabric rinsed?

Also to help I always tell them what to use on spots/accidents: the single best product to use on any type of spots stains, is a telephone!! people are alwaysooking at me like..huh?? I explain, we have a much better chance to remove spots if there are no chemicals introduced to it by the homeowners.

 

[hogjowl]

I think I'll just stick to saying it takes the color out of some carpets, so be careful. :roll:

 

[Zee]

:roll: Good.















Anyways Mert..it was more of an explanation to other carpet cleaners. I don't exactly tell customers all that either.
You'd be surprised how many professional carpet cleaners couldn't come up with half of that to tell their customers....they would be like "uumm eeer daat ms piff aint our faull..datwas theeer when I gots heeer"

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

Yer not seeing things, folex will often pull color. Tell every client to flush the contents down the drain and the bottle in the recycle. Give them Poof from VacAway; they'll never go back.

 

[ascrubabove]

I have seen prop mgrs using it, spray it on and walk away, I'm sure it should have been rinsed out, found many of those fadded spots while cleaning

 

[truckmount girl]

By the smell I have always assumed it has some ammonia in it, which can pull color, especially in areas that get sunlight, like near a window or slider.

Take care,
Lisa

 

[ACE]

I think Lisa is correct. I called them to ask about the ingredients after a customer had told me they discolored the carpet using that product. They would not answer to many specific questions but did say it had some initial high PH shock value but quickly neutralized.

 

[Scott Whitaker]

When coming across lighter spots in the carpet where a spotter has been used, very commonly the spotter will have an optical brightener in it as an ingredient. Optical brighteners mixed with UV rays will take color from the carpet. If a spotter is used and rinsed immediately the optical brighter normally will not have the effect that you are seeing. Resolve is one of the worst for this happening and does contain a high level of optical brighteners. Steer clear of any chemical that does not list ingredients and if they do, know what you are looking at. Rinse all if possible.

 

[Jim Nazarian]

Yer not seeing things, folex will often pull color. Tell every client to flush the contents down the drain and the bottle in the recycle. Give them Poof from VacAway; they'll never go back.

I do the same but the "word of mouth" on this product is powerful, I come across it in a high percentage of homes.

 

[Jack Zipper Zerkie]

Home depot and maybe Lowes sell it in there carpet sales dept . They sell a lot of it. They might have it in the chemical dept. I looked at a bottle that some had spilled out and looked as the old carpet chemicals from many years past that had optical boosters , that we can't use today. jz.

 

[Jim Nazarian]

4.4 out of 5 stars on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Folex-Carpet-Spot-Remover-32/dp/B001B0V5GG

 

[GeneMiller]

Lots of my customers use it. I've never seen any problem.

 

[Shawn Abbey]

If memory serves, it has the same Ph as oven cleaner. There have been times I've applied rust remover, or some other acidic product to bring the Ph down, and the color returned.

Not true for all carpets, but it has worked on some. Others I've had to re-dye if the fiber wasn't damaged.

 

[GeneMiller]

If memory serves, it has the same Ph as oven cleaner. There have been times I've applied rust remover, or some other acidic product to bring the Ph down, and the color returned.

Not true for all carpets, but it has worked on some. Others I've had to re-dye if the fiber wasn't damaged.

To get that to work you have to be pretty quick , don't think it would still work months later

 

[Mikey P]

Lots of my customers use it. I've never seen any problem.

same here..

 

[Papa John]

Folex is too high of a Ph for most of the carpet fiber types our custys have in SF..
Hopefully the light spot are just a shift in Ph.. correct by applying Last Step or some other acid rinse.
and If they have natural or "scotchgarded" carpets tell the custy to either throw the Folex out or dilute with water

 

[Zee]

I notice the brightening of the spots a lot more since I started using Procyon. I think I mentioned it before....and I keep noticing it. With other presprays I didn't have it so pronounced. I'm convinced that one of the components in Procyon is what makes these light colors pop out.

Sometimes just prespraying a carpet...where I already notice an immediate brightening of spots.

I don't feel like searching but I think years ago this was discussed. (not this thread, even though this is old too)

 

[Cleanworks]

the main problem with customer applied spot cleaners, is that they don't rinse them. The spot remover sits on the carpet fibre until it finally evaporates off with some of them leaving behind a alkaline salt deposit that that can absorb moisture if the humidity is high, reactivating the cleaning agent. It can be the same for any of the professional spotters that we use. One thing your customer can do if they can't rinse, is to spray some pure white vinegar on the spot after they have cleaned it. This will neutralize the alkaline side of the spotter so it is not burning the carpet fibre.